Outnumbered, outgunned, outgeneraled, and easily outfought, the rebels in Sumatra last week were pushed to the wall.
Government troops at dawn scrambled from transports into lifeboats and landing craft, surged onto the beaches north of Padang, the rebel nerve center. A spearhead of Indonesian marines had already pushed inland against light resistance. At the Padang airfield, eight miles north of town, government planes strafed gun positions while 200 paratroopers drifted down at the field's edge. Within twelve hours, the rebel defenders were in flight along the road to Bukittinggi, 58 miles away, and Padang was firmly in the control of...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
